Thank you NetGalley and Xeno Books for the advanced listener copy of this audiobook, in exchange for my honest review.

Aqueous is a YA dystopian novel set in an underwater world, where humanity retreated as Earth became uninhabitable. The story follows Marisol, who had to leave her birth mother behind to have a chance at survival underwater with her adoptive parents. Now, a decade later, 16 years old Marisol is undergoing trials to determine her role within the Aqueous community, but hidden truths begin to unravel.

I enjoyed this book! The start had me hooked immediately, and set this book up incredibly. My favourite part of this book was the world building, it was so well done. I was fully immersed into this world, largely due to the descriptive and vivid writing style which brought this unique world to life. I liked the characters, and their dynamics; in particular the nuanced and complex relationship between Marisol and her adoptive parents.

I listened to the audiobook, which was narrated by the author herself, and she did a great job keeping me engaged in the story. While I would have liked to hear a bit more distinction between the characters, it didn’t take away from my enjoyment of this book.

If you enjoy dystopian novels, with a strong female main character, I would recommend Aqueous. I cant wait to see what happens next, especially after that cliffhanger!

I enjoyed this book, usually when its the author reading It can be a bit hit or miss, but I will just say it here I enjoyed listening to the author, we have some songs, I think maybe it was through AI but I still enjoyed and I think this is a good book to give to teens from 11 to 16 years old, we have a strong main character. This was a bit like a mix with “the Testing” by Joelle Charbonneau with a kind of underwater Silo, yes, I wont give spoilers, but as far as our main character knows, the outside world is dead, they can only survive, in this kind of underwater “silos”, there’s another 2 besides the one where our main character lives, and in this book she and all her class are competing in some tests to know what kind of activities they will do in aqueous (the name of their base).

I did enjoy this book and I recommend it both in book and as in audiobook, the author did a great job reading it, I did miss having other voices in the book, but I still enjoyed and I think most people will enjoy it too, even more with the sound tidbits the author added in some parts

Thank you Netgalley and Red Hen Press | Xeno Books, for the free AAC and this is my honest opinion.

I think this book had a ton of potential but it fell flat for me. The beginning was detailed and I loved hearing about her life before aqueous but the middle and end was quite boring. It ended on a cliffhanger because of the sequel but I’m unsure if I will be picking that one up.

Thank you NetGalley and Xeno Books for my ALC in exchange for my honest review.

thank you to netgalley and red hen press/xeno books for this complimentary copy of their audiobook version of aqueous. i enjoyed myself a lot!

the audiobook was engaging enough and has some musical numbers to go with. this kept me on my toes listening.

this book is the book i would have eaten up especially as a younger teen- post apocalyptic mermaidic type vibes??? please, this is like a wishlist item.

fun read, highly recommend.

A life under the ocean, because you can’t live above anymore. Young Marisol must leave her mother to live under the ocean with her new mom and dad. In this book you read all about her life and how they get to live under the ocean. But is it really impossible to have a life above?

I loved to listen to this book. Sometimes it was a bit difficult to understand al the things they do to live a life under the ocean.

Marisol is a really hard working girl. That really stimulated me to also work harder in my own life.

I think it is al really good book to read

A different take on postapocalyptic life. Instead of venturing to the stars ... humanity goes underwater.

I loved the audiobook. There's songs! Catchy ones! And I suspect, given the awkward dialogue, that listening rather than reading the conversations among characters would be more pleasurable for most.

I told a friend of mine that this is "Harry Potter in the ocean" and that's pretty much what we've got. I enjoyed learning about the world and following the lead as she faced each trial and tribulation with strength and humility. At the same time, this is all rather cut and dry. On top of that, this is the most binary, heterosexual world I've encountered in a long time. Even the author's notes refer specifically to "girls and boys" rather than kids ... even though this is dedicated to all children who are struggling (or maybe just binary children). The author doesn't seem to be super worldly and it shows. I also wasn't a fan of the cliffhanger ending. But there's hope for something more interesting if the tale continues.

Oof, for a YA novel this one is a doozy. It is set on an Earth where humans have ruined things ecologically and people are starving, dehydrated and dying everywhere. made me think about how easily we could be headed down this path ourselves, making me enjoy the book more as I was just sucked into this new underwater world. Marisol is a young child who is adopted on the whim of a childless couple to go to on of the three merstations. Fast forward 10yrs and she is now about to graduate and take her place as a contributing adult, but first she must go through a series of trials to aid in her placement. Marisol is athletic and bright, but also very naive in many ways. Watching her and her friends go through these trials and trying to find their place is captivating. All about the age of 16, they are mature in many ways and immature in just as many. Warning: this book is meant to be a series and ends with a huge cliffhanger. I’m now following the author and wanting to know what’s next

This is a Young Adult Debut novel and I really enjoyed it! Readers follow Marisol through the final weeks of her last year in school when she will be assigned to a permanent assignment in her undersea settlement. Marisol's been underwater on the Aqueous campus for 10 years, she's happy and well adjusted, and dreams of becoming an elite diver, a dangerous position. Prior to this she was adopted in the chaos of a dying earth above the ocean. She's always felt her mother gave her up so she would be sure to have a better life. As she adjusts into her new adult role, Marisol learns some information about the above world that changes everything. She's unsure of what's to come, but she won't keep silent. We are left with a big CLIFFHANGER and I'm left wanting book two now.

The biggest strength of the novel is the fantastic worldbuilding. I was fascinated and really enjoyed all of the descriptions of the sea steading pods created to survive climate disaster. If there is a weakness, it's in the dialogue. Overall, it is a bit stiff and made me feel like I wasn't really reading/listening to teens talk among themselves, but I was able to suspend my ideas and I told myself that theses were all kiddos who learned to interact "under the sea" and of course their language might be different.

The audiobook is read by the author herself and does included 2 musical numbers which were pretty enjoyable (I usually skip right over any added lyrics etc, so if I say I enjoyed it, that's a real endorsement).

one more note- this is true YA. There is no "spice" Marisol and her friends do engage in the usual teen aged crushes, kisses and flirting- but it isn't the main point of the novel, and this is not Ocean based romantasy. I was happy to be immersed in a novel about a normal teen in unusual circumstances, facing normal challenges! Marisol isn't "the chosen one" or a hidden paranormal princess and I must have read too many of those books because I really liked her concerns about dresses, career choices and friends. I think it's an excellent book for kids aged between about 11-16 and very well written for exactly that age group. (and for me...)

⭐️⭐️ | Aqueous by Jade Shyback

This one didn’t really work for me. The concept of an underwater world was definitely unique and had potential, but overall I struggled to stay invested. The writing felt a bit juvenile and was hard to follow at times, and the trials — which should have been a major source of tension — were both boring and confusing.

There was a chapter missing in the audiobook, which made it feel like I missed something important. The repeated comments about how much the main character hates seafood got old fast, and although the inclusion of a full song was kind of cool, it also felt out of place.

It gave me The 100 meets Divergent vibes, but without the same level of depth or engagement. The pacing was okay and the length felt right, but by the end, it took a turn toward being religious and preachy, which I really didn’t enjoy. Ultimately, I just didn’t get the point of the story.

A unique premise, but not for me.

Thank you to NetGalley and the Red Hen Press for the audiobook ARC of Aqueous by Jade Shyback.

Set in a post-collapse world where humanity has retreated beneath the sea, Aqueous delivers an imaginative and emotionally grounded coming-of-age story. Though I’m not the target YA audience, I was drawn in by Marisol’s journey and the powerful friendship dynamic she forms with her fellow trainees supportive, loyal, and often competitive to a fault.

Equally compelling is the nuanced portrayal of her adoptive parents, whose struggle with overprotecting her and fear from losing her after giving all they could. While some plot turns felt predictable and the dialogue occasionally unnatural, the richly developed world and brisk pacing kept me engaged. The ending felt slightly rushed, but overall, it’s a promising start to the series and a debut novel and I’ll definitely be continuing.

Did not finish book. Stopped at 14%.
Was only able to make it to 18% of this audiobook. The premise was super interesting and the author did a phenomenal job narrating her book, but unfortunately the dialogue was very clunky and unnatural and made it hard to stay engaged with the story. Also while I can appreciate the world that is being built I found that the station and all its technologies are over described and came all at once in a mass info dump rather than being slowly revealed as we moved through and experienced it through the characters.
There felt like a huge difference between the beautiful lyrical writing we got when the author was describing the world before, and the very clinical tone of the world after. This was likely deliberate but made for a whiplash reading experience moving between the two time frames. This is the authors debut work and bumps along the way are to be expected, I look forward to any future works by this author, or even a better edited/refined copy of this story.

Thank you Red Hen Press, Xeno Books, NetGalley and author Jade Shyback for the advanced listener copy of this audiobook. All opinions expressed are my own.

Aqueous is a dystopian YA novel set deep under the sea after climate change made the Earth’s surface largely uninhabitable. Our FMC, Marisol is the adopted daughter of the underwater community’s commander and his wife. She had to leave her birth mother behind for a chance to survive. Now 10 years later, Marisol is 16 and ready to graduate and be assigned her role within their community. When Marisol doesn’t achieve the position she had hoped to despite being at the top of her class, some hidden secrets begin to unravel.

I found the story unique and interesting. The story was rich with detail. At times the descriptions seemed a bit more of a “tell me” narrative vs. show me style. This gave it the feel of a report on the world versus learning about it via the character interactions (if that makes sense). The story did capture my interest and I do plan to read the next book in this series. Ending with a bit of a cliff-hanger definitely helps.

As to the narration,, I’d recommend this book be read vs. choosing the audiobook. This is read by the author, and though she has an engaging voice, all the characters sounded the same and the narration didn’t bring the characters to life,

This book is YA and the content for romance and violence was in keeping with that book level. If you enjoy a post-apocalyptic or dystopian read with a strong (not sassy) FMC, this book would be a great pick. I can’t wait to read about what happens next!